Fr. Joseph Burtka, LC, and his mother discuss the family life that fostered his vocation

Mrs Burtka with Br. Joseph in Rome 1991.

Question: Tell us about your family and your childhood in
suburban Detroit, Michigan.

Mrs. Patricia Burtka: “We have 4 children: Fr.
Joseph; Jim, a physician who is married to Colleen and
has 2 children, James and Grace; Karen a lawyer and
recently married Chris; Jeffrey, studying law and married to Allison.
We were always a close family. Grandparents were an integral
part in our lives. Our Catholic faith was, and is,
most important.”

Fr. Joseph Burtka: “I would consider myself a normal
kid, a normal Catholic kid, product of a normal Catholic
upbringing. A good family, lots of love, but not without
difficulties as well. Catholic schools? – all of my life.
A good education, not only intellectually, but also spiritually. Sunday
Mass, basic catechism, but nothing special. No long hours in
the chapel. No rosaries. No visions. I didn’t pray much
– usually before dinner, sometimes before going to bed… I
did more than my share of watching television, but also
played sports, rode my bike or just got into mischief.”

Mrs. Burtka: “Through Fr. Joseph when he
was in a boy’s club started by Fr. Lorenzo Gomez,

Mr and Mrs Burtka with Fr. Joseph; March 1999 in Germany outside the noviciate.

LC. After a while we were introduced to the Legion
of Christ and Regnum Christi at an evening with other
parents of the boys. Later, I was invited by Mary
Anne Williams to a Regnum Christi prayer meeting called an
Encounter with Christ.”

Q: How did your son discover his
vocation?

Mrs. Burtka: “It developed through Fr. Joseph’s contact with the
Legionary priests in the last years of grade school, specifically
after his first retreat.”

Fr. Joseph: “Amazingly enough, (Fr. Gomez)
was a young man with a wide range of qualities
not usually associated with the priesthood (at least according to
a child of 13 years of age). He was wild
and full of energy, capable of outrunning and outplaying us
in any sport…He was a great story teller – entertaining
to say the least…In the end, he was one of
us…and yet he was also different. He was a man
of God. This fact awakened an instinctive knowledge to give
him a certain distance, a special respect. He has a
gift, a special talent to help us come closer to
Christ, not only by his words, also with his example.
Meeting Fr. Gomez and seeing him in action that weekend
was something that left a permanent mark. As he drove
us home that Sunday wearing his dark sunglasses and praying
his rosary, one thought kept coming into my mind: ‘So
this is a priest’…”

Q: When did you sense the
call to the priesthood and how did you respond?

Fr. Joseph:

Father Joseph Burtka, LC

“For me, it was a dark winter day, the 31st
of December (when I was visiting the Legionary seminary)… I
made my way to the chapel (for rosary) and knelt
down in the back left corner…Br. Michael (Sliney, also from
Michigan and a longtime friend) was one of the first
brothers to walk into the chapel, with his bright white
surplice on. Little by little other brothers began to enter.
And then it happened. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to be
like one of them? ... Just for a little while?’
It was a soft, peaceful, warm type of thought that
somehow entered into my heart. It was just a thought,
but at the same time it was different. I knew
that it wasn’t coming just from me. I felt a
sudden panic. But this ‘voice’ was so peaceful that I
really offered no resistance. Christ had just passed by my
shore and I ran up to him to ask him
where he lived. The thought of turning back would never
be able to take hold of me…After a few minutes
I was amazed how peaceful the whole thing had been.
For so many years I had wrestled with the idea.
This time it was different. Sudden, smooth, almost without effort.
God’s will seemed so clear, but still very fragile. It
was in this moment that I realized that my decision,
being so weak, needed support and protection. Were I to
think too much about what I had decided, perhaps I
would get scared. Perhaps the allurements of six more months
of university life would drown out this growing seed. I
had to tell this to someone. Make it something objective.
If not, there was the danger that I would later
dismiss it as a dream, as something that never really
happened. And so, off to Fr. Gomez.

--“‘Father, I uh, well,
you see. How can I explain. I was in the
chapel and…Father, I want to join the candidacy this summer.’--‘Really. Are you sure? No, I think it would be
better if you just visited for a while.’--‘Father, I

Father Lorenzo Gomez, LC.

have to join. I don’t want to give God half,
I want to go all the way. I will go
as a candidate.’--‘Are you sure? Why don’t you think
about it?’--‘I am sure.’

And that was that. My will
was firm.”

Q: Mrs. Burtka, how did you and your husband
accept this decision?

Mrs. Burtka: “My husband says he knew Joe
had a vocation for a long time – I suspected
it. Acceptance? The separation was the worst thought – being
so close (even Fr. Gomez did not think Fr. Joe
would become a Legionary because of that). As a diocesan
priest he would have stayed in Detroit area, but that
was not his call. We, as our parents had done,
must accept our children’s vocations, whatever they may be, or
wherever they go with them. It is not our will.”

Q:
Fr. Joseph, how did you inform your parents of your
decision?

Fr. Joseph: “As the dark, cloudy, Michigan winter months rolled
on, I wondered how everything was going to end. I
still hadn’t told my parents. On the one hand I
wanted to tell them because I was suffering and needed
to let it out. On the other hand I knew
that the moment I told them they would begin to
suffer with me, and perhaps even more. April was upon
us and I decided to reveal everything…I think they took
it well. They weren’t overjoyed. They knew what it would
mean…” Oh.” – silence. A puzzled look. Maybe a little
confusion. But they always supported me.”

Q: What has been
the hardest part about having Fr. Joseph follow a vocation?
What has helped you accept and deal with it?

Mrs. Burtka:
“Again the separation – in some way he now has
a new family. Our married children are ‘their own families’
too. It’s all relative. Accept and deal with it? First,
(it helps) knowing the Legion and being in Regnum Christi
and accepting God’s will, not mine.”

Q: What have been some
of the greatest graces you and your family have received
through your son’s vocation? How have you seen your son
grow as a person through his vocation as a priest?

Mrs.
Burtka: “(I felt) serenity and peace seeing our son become
‘another Christ.’ He’s older and with age, as we all
do, he grows in God. He has always willingly and
humbly accepted everything the Legion has asked.”

Q: Fr. Joseph, what

Father Joseph Burtka, LC during his priestly ordination.

does it mean to you as a priest to be
“another Christ?”

Fr. Joseph: “…I would say that to be a
priest is above all Christ… intimacy with Christ. It is
a special presence, a deeper love, a stronger desire to
imitate Him, more graces. It is a longing for holiness
and an all-out effort to achieve it. It is fight
against the ‘old man’ (as St. Paul puts it, cf.
Eph. 4: 22-24)… I must also say, however, that from
the moment of my priestly consecration I have never been
the same. I have felt from the beginning a strength
that was not there before… The priesthood marks the soul,
changes our being, makes us consecrated to God for all
eternity.”

Q: How has being involved with Regnum Christi
helped keep you “spiritually” united with your son?

Q: What would you say to parents who are struggling
with their child feeling called or following a priestly or
consecrated vocation?

Mrs. Burtka: “We are given children through God’s love
– only for a little while. They are ‘loaned’ to
us, if you will, to care for, to nurture, to
instill values – and then support the choice of their
special call from God. Their yes is not ours, but
theirs – hopefully, as they move forward, our job has
been done well.”